- Rating:
- 15
- House:
- The Dark Arts
- Ships:
- Ginny Weasley/Harry Potter
- Characters:
- Arthur Weasley Bill Weasley Other Canon Witch Charlie Weasley George Weasley Hermione Granger James Potter II Kingsley Shacklebolt Molly Weasley Original Female Witch Original Male Wizard Percy Weasley Ron Weasley
- Genres:
- Drama Mystery
- Era:
- In the nineteen years between the last chapter of
- Spoilers:
- Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Phoenix Half-Blood Prince Deadly Hallows (Through Ch. 36) Epilogue to Deathly Hallows Quidditch Through the Ages Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them J.K. Rowling Interviews or Website
- Stats:
-
Published: 09/20/2008Updated: 05/09/2009Words: 114,016Chapters: 29Hits: 51,872
Chapter 23 - Breakthrough
- Posted:
- 05/08/2009
- Hits:
- 784
Shacklebolt sat in his office, trying to complete some of the interminable paperwork that seemed to multiply with each passing day, when a large, silvery stag loped into his office. It spoke with Harry's voice, 'Kingsley, get up here now!' It slowly faded and vanished.
Shacklebolt sprang from the chair behind the desk and dashed to the outer office. 'Percy, I'll be out for a while.'
Percy hadn't missed the Patronus. It was rather difficult to miss a large stag galloping through a room. He knew it was Harry's. It could only mean one thing. 'Is it...?'
'I think so.'
Percy ran a shaking hand through his hair. 'Thank Merlin...' he breathed. He straightened - the cool, efficient assistant once more. 'I'll just clear your calendar for the day, if it's something I can't handle.'
Shacklebolt rummaged through a cupboard and found an old, discarded bowler hat, it's once bright lime green now faded. 'I'll get word to you if I'm to be gone more than today.' He paused, his hand hovering over the hat. 'Get with the Head of MLE. I'll need a few of their best Hit Wizards at this address in two hours.' He scribbled the address of the Inverness house on a scrap of parchment. 'Burn that as soon as you're done with the Head.' He grasped the hat in his hand, and disappeared.
Shacklebolt landed in the back garden of the house. He could see Harry and another man sitting at the table in the kitchen. He calmly walked into the kitchen, noting the ropes that bound the bloodied man to his chair. 'Breakthrough?'
Harry looked up. 'Partially.'
Shacklebolt took in the prisoner's bloody face. 'Care to explain?' he asked, gesturing to the man's face.
'I punched him,' Harry admitted unabashedly. 'I already gave myself two weeks of unpaid suspension, effective at the conclusion of this case.'
Shacklebolt grabbed a dishcloth from the skin and roughly swabbed the blood from the man's face. 'Ryan Flanagan?' he exclaimed incredulously. He shot Harry a glance. 'Make it four weeks' suspension,' he said, with a slight quirk of his eyebrow.
Harry repressed a grin. Shacklebolt all but ordered him to take a month's vacation. 'Understood.'
'MLE will be here in about two hours to transport him to Azkaban.'
'Great.'
Shacklebolt studied the two men glaring daggers at each other across the table. 'Harry, can I speak with you in private?'
Harry rose and motioned for Shacklebolt to follow him outside. 'Is it Ginny or the boys?'
'No, they're fine. I saw Arthur this morning.' Shacklebolt paused and pointed to the back of Flanagan's head. 'How did you know he was involved?'
Harry ran his hand through his hair. 'We saw him. At the house. Repeatedly. When I was gone, Briana and Iain saw him go in with a large stack of magazines.'
'That's not enough to implicate him,' Shacklebolt pointed out.
'No, but Legilimency is,' Harry retorted.
Shacklebolt's eyes narrowed. Harry hated using Legilimency and nearly had to be forced to do it at probation interviews. 'When did you do that?'
'Before I punched him.'
'Ah.' Shacklebolt scratched his bald head, still staring at the back of Flanagan's head. 'Who captured him?'
'Kathleen and Lucy. This morning. At the parchment maker's on Skye. Kathleen put his wand on the kitchen counter before they went back.'
Shacklebolt turned his gaze from Flanagan, slumped as much as his bonds would allow to Harry's shuttered face. 'Will he cooperate?'
'He will if he wants to see the outside of Azkaban before he's too old to care.'
They were interrupted by four MLE witches and wizards landing in the back garden. 'One day, I'll land on me feet,' one of them muttered, dusting off the seat of his trousers. 'So then, Kingsley, why have ye called us oot o' our beds this mornin'?' he called across the garden.
'You got here awfully fast,' Kingsley commented.
'Huh. Fowles damn near dragged us out of bed,' a witch wryly snorted, exchanging looks with the other witch. 'Terrible way to start your morning.' She linked arms with the witch standing next to her.
'I need you four to transport and register that man into Azkaban,' Kingsley said, pointing to Flanagan.
'Looks like he's in a bad way,' one of the wizards muttered.
'Like he got i' the way o' someone's fist,' the first wizard added helpfully. ''Tis a shame, that,' he drawled sardonically. 'Roughed up his pretty face.'
'He's got Anti-Apparition jinxes on him,' Harry said to the wizard, who seemed to be the leader.
'Och. No worries, then. We'll use a Portkey. Not an Animagus is he?'
Harry shook his head. 'Not that I'm aware.'
The second witch shrugged. 'We'll put a jinx on him anyway, just in case.'
Harry nodded and turned his attention to Flanagan. 'I need five minutes with him.'
'Go ahead,' Shacklebolt said. 'We'll wait.'
Harry marched into the kitchen. He took a chair next to Flanagan. 'I'm going to ask you a few questions. And if you answer them freely and help us catch her, too, I'll make sure MLE knows about it when you go to trial.' Flanagan's lip curled in response. Harry let a grim smile grace his face. 'You can answer them freely, or I'll Stun you and force Veritaserum down your throat. Your choice.'
Flanagan paled under the streaks of dried blood on his face, but he nodded.
'When is she expecting you back at that house?'
'Later.'
'How much later?'
'I don't know. She never kept a regular schedule. Kept me on edge all the time.' Flanagan couldn't keep the sullenness out of his voice.
'She's out of parchment, isn't she?'
'Yeah.'
'And if you're not there when she comes by, what happens?'
'Nothing.'
'But she needs more parchment.'
'She'll just have to get off her fat, lazy arse and go get it.'
'Do you really have something against house-elves?' Harry asked curiously.
'No. It's to get back at you.'
Harry's eyes narrowed. 'Just me?'
'Just you.' Flanagan paused and bared his teeth at Harry in something resembling a smile. 'Just to make you suffer.' He turned his head and spat on the floor. 'Adding your bitch of a wife into the equation just made it sweeter.'
Harry's hand curled into a fist, as he desperately felt an urge to smash his fist into Flanagan's sneering face again. He shoved the chair back, feeling a smirk of satisfaction flit across his face, as Flanagan flinched, clearly expecting another blow to the face. 'Bloody coward,' Harry spat softly, turning on his heel, and stalking outside. He looked at the leader of the group. 'He's all yours.' He watched as the witches and wizards trooped inside the kitchen, and Stunned Flanagan. One of them flicked their wand, and the ropes binding Flanagan to the chair wavered, then reappeared, wound around his wrists and ankles. Two of them Levitated Flanagan outside.
The leader stopped next to Shacklebolt. 'We left the wand on the counter,' he told Harry and Shacklebolt. 'Ye can tae it back wi' ye to London, aye?'
'Yes. I'll put it away for the trial.'
The wizard nodded and took a battered trainer from a pocket of his cloak, holding it out to the other three. The second wizard gripped Flanagan's arm tightly in one hand, as he laid a fingertip on the trainer.
Harry collapsed to the brick wall and buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking.
*****
Ginny poked her head through the door to Albus' room. Maggie was sitting in the rocker, feeding him. 'How's he doing?'
Maggie looked up and nodded. 'He's staying awake a bit longer.' She settled Albus into the crook of her elbow. 'Shanti's thinking about lifting some of the Warming charms tomorrow, to see if he can maintain his temperature for a while on his own.'
'I'm going to go see James for a bit. I'll be back before his next feeding.'
Maggie frowned at Ginny. 'Are you going out like that?'
'Like what?'
'When was the last time you really looked in a mirror?'
Ginny mentally counted the days. 'Um, almost two weeks...'
'You might want to take a quick peek.' Maggie tilted her head toward the desk. 'There's a bag with some Wonder Witch stuff in there. Help yourself.'
Ginny walked to the desk and pulled out a small bag. She took it back into her room, and went into the bathroom, taking a good look at herself. She had barely managed to wash her hair lately, and it hung in limp strands around her face. She had circles under her eyes that rivaled anything Sirius could have produced during the year he lived in Grimmauld Place. Her cheeks were gaunt and her skin pale. Sighing, Ginny pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and dug into the polka-dotted bag. A round compact lay inside and Ginny opened it, using the small puff inside to add some color to her face and tried to conceal the dark smudges under her eyes. 'Better than nothing,' she sighed. She looked down at her clothes and grimaced. She was still wearing the shirt she'd worn last night, crumpled and stained with dried milk on the front.
Ginny went to the cupboard and found some of the clothes Katie had brought Monday night. Sending a silent thank-you to Katie, Ginny stripped and pulled on clean knickers and a bra before slipping into a blessedly unwrinkled and non-stained shirt and a pair of trousers that she could button around her middle. Ginny shoved her feet into her shoes and went back across the hallway. Replacing the bag back in the desk, she presented herself to Maggie. 'Better?'
'Much. Now you won't scare your son when you see him.'
'Thanks,' Ginny said dryly. 'I'll be back around three.'
'We'll be here,' Maggie cheerfully replied.
Ginny softly chuckled and headed toward the waiting area and an Apparition point. She stopped, suddenly anxious about seeing James, the wand slipping in her hand that had become slick with cold sweat. Get a grip on yourself, Weasley, she told herself sternly. He's going to be thrilled to see you. Ginny took a deep breath and turned, Disapparating to the lane outside the Burrow.
*****
Bill trudged into Shell Cottage, feeling his thirty-five years. He collapsed on the sofa, making it creak dangerously. Fleur's head appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. She looked over her shoulder at Maddie and Victoire playing in the back garden, and checked the charms around the garden that kept them from going to the edge of the cliff. Satisfied, Fleur perched on the sofa next to Bill. 'How ess Ginny?'
'Fine,' Bill growled.
'And ze bébé?'
'All right, I suppose.'
Fleur raised an eyebrow. 'You suppose?'
Bill's eyes opened to slits. 'Charlie didn't do it justice the other night. He's tiny. So small. He stops breathing. He barely eats. And Ginny's having to do it all by herself.' He shook his head. 'And I keep...' He stopped.
'What?'
'Nothing.' Bill hauled himself to his feet. 'I'm going to go upstairs and have a kip. Wake me in time for lunch?'
Fleur nodded, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. She knew there was more to the story than Bill was telling, but now wasn't the time to get into it. Bill was quite irritable when he didn't sleep much.
Bill dropped to the edge of the bed, and bent to untie the laces of his boots. Pulling his feet free of them, he stretched out on the bed. His eyes burned with exhaustion, but he was unable to sleep. His stomach churned with impotent anger at Arthur. And Molly. He couldn't believe Molly had left, or that Arthur had made her feel so worthless she'd felt she had to.
A tiny part of Bill's mind wound its way down to Fleur and the girls. Fleur seemed to be content to stay at home with Victoire and Maddie, but he wondered...
If it came down to it, would he react the same way Arthur had? And would Fleur do what Molly had done?
Bill began to methodically crack his knuckles.
What about Ginny? As adamant as she had been last night about not leaving Harry, a seed of doubt sprang up in Bill's mind. He would never have believed it of his own parents, but after receiving confirmation of his childhood memories from Molly, Bill wasn't sure what anyone would do anymore.
*****
'Mummeeeeeee!' James slid out of his seat at the table and launched himself at Ginny. Ginny lifted him into her arms, cradling him for a moment, before James moved his head and planted a raspberry jam flavored kiss on her mouth. Ginny grinned at the sight her son presented. Smudges of raspberry jam were smeared around his mouth, and crumbs of bread clung to the sticky red jam. His hair was in wild disorder and his shirt bore the unmistakable signs of the sand pit.
'Ginny,' Molly said, pleased. 'How are you?'
Ginny looked at Molly over the top of James' head. 'Fine. Tired like nothing else, but all right. Just wanted to come see James for a few hours.' She smiled unsteadily. 'Don't want him to forget me, now, do I?'
'Are you hungry?'
Ginny inhaled the familiar odors of the Burrow's kitchen. Her stomach rumbled loudly, making James giggle. She didn't realize how hungry she was until she'd left the confines of the hospital with its scents of antiseptic and Mrs. Scower's Magical Mess Remover that somehow infused everything she'd eaten the last week and a half. 'Famished, actually.'
'Have a seat, dear. I'll get you sorted out.' Molly jabbed her wand at a cupboard and a bowl flew out and landed on the counter next to the stove. Waving her wand like an orchestra conductor, a bowl of soup glided through the air and landed in front of Ginny. 'Get started on that, and I'll have some sandwiches for you in a tick.'
Ginny set James back in his chair, and he resumed cramming pieces of jam sandwich into his mouth. Sipping her soup, Ginny glanced at her son, and grinned. 'Reminds you of Ron a bit, doesn't it?' she commented, tilting her head toward James.
Molly paused, the loaf of bread hovering in mid-air. 'Yes, it does.' She resumed her sandwich making. 'Ron did learn table manners eventually.'
Ginny glanced down at James. 'It's payback, that's what it is. For all the times I used to make pig noises at the dinner table.'
'Give him some time. He'll learn. At some point.' Molly glanced at James. 'Hopefully before he goes to Hogwarts, so he doesn't end up with more of his meal on him than in him.'
After lunch, James took Ginny by the hand and towed her into Bill's old room. He proudly showed her his burgeoning plug collection. 'See, Mummy?' James patted the windowsill, where his plugs were displayed. 'P'ugs! G'andad's p'ugs!'
Ginny made noises of admiration, while James showed her the books and toys Molly and Arthur had given him, holding up the plastic lorry for her approval. Then he pulled out a sheaf of paper from the wooden box that was supposed to house the scattered toys on the floor, and displayed his artwork from the last week - pages and pages of crayoned scribbles. Ginny didn't always know what they were, but James pointed to certain scribbles, proclaiming them to be a bird, or a flower. Sometimes the scribbles were of her and Harry.
James climbed into Ginny's lap, and with the realization there was more room for him, patted Ginny's considerably smaller middle. 'W'ere baybee?' he asked.
'He's at the hospital,' Ginny said. 'He's sick.'
James' forehead creased in confusion. 'Wan' see baybee!' he demanded.
'Soon,' Ginny promised. She reached into the pocket of her shirt, and pulled out a copy of the photograph Shanti had given them last week. 'This is your baby brother.' Ginny wasn't sure how much James understood, but she felt like telling him anyway. 'His name is Albus. Can you say that? All-busss.'
'Ahh-booo.'
Ginny laughed, 'Close enough. We'll work on it.' She tacked the photograph to the wall by the cot with a Sticking charm. James began to blink sleepily, and Ginny knew it was getting close to his naptime. She stopped talking and began to stroke James' feathery hair. It helped him sleep sometimes when he was fighting it. When she felt his head loll against her shoulder, Ginny carefully laid him in the cot.
Closing the door to Bill's room, Ginny heard Arthur come into the house. She tumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen. 'Dad!'
'Ginny, you made it.' Arthur smiled.
'Of course I did,' she huffed.
Arthurs face lit as an idea hit. 'Want to go get that ice cream we talked about?'
'I'd love to.' Ginny felt a sense of relief at being out of the hospital for a few hours, where she wasn't anxiously waiting for the next feeding, or the next time Albus stopped breathing. She knew if something happened while she was gone, she'd feel horribly guilty for it later, but for the next half hour, Ginny didn't want to think about what could go wrong with Albus.
As Ginny and Arthur settled on a bench in the village green of Ottery-St.-Catchpole, Arthur suddenly breathed, 'Merlin's beard... Do you remember the last time we did this?'
Ginny started to shake her head, but she did remember. 'When Ron went to school. I was so despondent at being left behind you came home early and snuck me out for ice cream. Before dinner.'
'Didn't really have a chance to do it again after that,' Arthur mused.
'I missed it.' Ginny licked a smear of chocolate from her hand. 'It was something just you and I did.'
'I tried to do something with each of you.'
'And we appreciated it, Dad.'
'I know you did.'
They sat in companionable silence, licking their ice cream cones, until Arthur cleared his throat. 'Do you mind telling me what that was about with Bill?'
Ginny sighed. 'He... He made it out to be like Harry just up and left me to fend for myself. As if I wasn't capable of taking care of things on my own,' she snorted. 'Git.'
'He's just worried about you, Gin.'
'He's a little too late, if you ask me,' she said mildly. She glanced up at Arthur, busily trying to keep up with his scoop of rapidly melting cookie dough ice cream. 'Bill remembers,' she blurted. 'When you and Mum...' She made a gesture with her free hand.
Arthur stopped eating his ice cream and gazed at Ginny, unmindful of the tiny stream of melted ice cream dripping off the back of his hand. 'I hoped he wouldn't.'
Ginny meditatively licked the ice cream. 'I think he thinks that's what's going to happen.'
'And how did you come up that that?' Arthur asked.
Ginny let a corner of her mouth turn up in a wry sort of smile. 'I had all night to think about it. It didn't take much to put two and two together.'
'I suppose I'll have to talk to him one day soon.' Arthur sighed and threw his cone into a rubbish bin, futilely attempting to clean the stickiness off his fingers without magic, unable to use his wand in a Muggle area.
Reluctantly, Ginny mimicked her father's actions. She had to get back to the hospital soon anyway. 'We'll have to do this again, when Albus is able to come home.'
They slowly went back to the Burrow, Ginny's mind swinging back to Albus. She needed to get back to the hospital, and soon, to feed him. They reached the front gate when a screeching sound wafted from the house. Ginny sprinted in through the front door.
James clung to the banister, his small face screwed up, on the verge of working himself up to a genuine Weasley temper tantrum. 'Nooooooo!' he wailed. 'Wan' Mummy! Wan' Mummy!' His eyes lit on Ginny, and he made a beeline for her. Ginny picked him up, patting his sturdy little back. 'Jemmy, sweetie, please don't cry,' she beseeched him, feeling the familiar tingle of her milk letting down in response to James' cries. 'James, please don't cry...'
Too late. James broke into noisy wails, burying his face in Ginny's shoulder. Ginny could feel the spreading wetness over the front of her shirt. Looking helplessly at Molly, Ginny whispered, 'Mum, I have to go...' She shifted James a bit, so Molly could see her front. Molly pried James away from Ginny, and torn between her need to comfort one son, and the urgent need to nurse the other, Ginny mouthed a quick thank you to Molly, and quickly left the house to Apparate back to St. Mungo's.
She ran down the corridor, her fingers undoing the buttons of her shirt as she ran. If Albus wasn't in the mood to nurse, she could at least pump. He was asleep, and nothing Ginny could do in her desperation would wake him. Cursing silently, she took the pump from Maggie and sagged into the rocking chair, gritting her teeth at the discomfort in her breasts. 'Oh, bugger,' she moaned, as the bottle began to fill.
'What?' Maggie perched on the counter next to the rocking chair.
'You know how my family's been coming up nights to help out?'
'Yeah. You're the envy of the other mums on this corridor.'
'My brother Percy's coming tonight.'
'And...?'
'We have nothing in common. Besides DNA, that is.' Ginny plucked the damp fabric of her shirt away from her skin. 'Ugh. Things I won't miss later when I'm done nursing.'
'I'll go get a dry one for you.'
'They're in the cupboard across from the bed.'
Ginny leaned back and contemplated the idea of spending the hours between ten at night to nearly eight the next morning with Percy. He seemed to have a broomstick shoved up his arse when he was eight, or so it seemed to Ginny. He was all about rules and order, and Ginny was the one who broke into broom sheds.
It was going to be a long night.
*****
Ginny lay curled in the bed, when Percy cautiously peered through a crack in the door. 'Gin?' he called softly.
'I'm awake.'
'Do you mind if I sit in here? I can go the waiting area.'
'You can sit here.'
Percy sidled into the room, looking nervous. He settled on the armchair, dying to tell Ginny that Harry was one step closer to coming home, but unable to. He leaned back into the cushions, and turned his head to look at Ginny in the darkened room. The only light came from a small nightlight in a corner. Percy cleared his throat. 'I'm sorry, Gin.'
'For what?' she asked tiredly.
'It was my fault,' he murmured. 'Harry wouldn't be gone if I hadn't told him about...' He cleared his throat again. 'About the letters I received.'
Ginny sighed. 'No, it's not, and yes he would.' She sat up and met Percy's eyes in the dim light. 'I don't blame you. Or Hermione,' she added.
Percy restrained himself from running his hands through his hair, and adjusted his glasses instead. 'He'll be home really soon.'
Ginny smiled wistfully. 'I keep telling myself that.'
'No, Ginny. He'll be home soon,' Percy repeated, hoping she would understand what he was trying to tell her.
Ginny's eyes widened, and before Percy could do anything, she launched herself at him, her arms around his neck. 'Thank you, Percy,' she whispered.
Percy awkwardly patted her back. 'My pleasure.'